bitful

Devo proprio continuare?
Must I really continue?
Literally: '(I) must really continue?'

This morning I realised this latest attempt of mine to teach Dr B. Italian was going well, when he turned around in bed after checking the Italian category in Bitful and asked 'Dov'è la prima frase di oggi?' (Where is the first sentence for today?'). Attaboy.

So I hurriedly recorded and uploaded today's phrases (because I was told yesterday that I am expected to have two new Italian phrases in each post) while Dr B. was getting ready next door in the bathroom. If you listen closely you might even hear him in the background.

I am now writing this from a very packed Monday morning underground train, and it will get published once I get out.

I am accepting bets on how short-lived this whole Italian teaching/learning thing (and the interest in it) is going to last. But for the time being it is still very much fun.

Va bene, allora vado avanti.
OK, I'll go on then.
Literally: '(He/she/it) goes well, then (I) go ahead.'

If you want to find out more

If you want to ask a question In English you must swap pronoun (person) and verb (action) (Must I?), or use the 'do' form (Do you eat meat?).

In Italian a question is identical to a statement expressing the same idea, but the tone of the sentence is different. Unsurprisingly, Italian is considered to be a musical language.

On the other side of the fence, the fact that in English you can pronounce what is unmistakingly a question as if it was a statement opens up endless possibilities for irony, humour and wit.

This entry was posted on Monday, January 14th, 2008 at 8:48 am and last modified on January 14th, 2008 at 9:40 am, and is filed under italian. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.